Vegas Rules Read online

  Vegas Rules

  Published by Jan Stryvant

  Copyright 2018 Jan Stryvant

  Copyright Jan Stryvant 2018

  Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author. The material in this story may feature graphic depictions of a sexual or adult nature and is intended for a mature audience only. All characters in this story are fictional and of the legal age of consent for any activities they engage in. Any resemblance between characters, places, or things in this story and people living or dead, actual places, or events, is purely coincidental. It's fiction, I made it up.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied and given away, or copied and sold, to other people. Got that? No copying, please! If you would like to share this book with another person, it would be really nice if you purchased an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use, then please consider purchasing your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  #65765

  Jan Stryvant Books:

  The Valens Legacy:

  Black Friday Book 1

  Perfect Strangers Book 2

  Over Our Heads Book 3

  Head Down Book 4

  When It Falls Book 5

  Stand On It Book 6

  Vegas Rules Book 7

  Shadow

  Morning

  Opening his eyes, Sean sighed and stretched as he stared up at the ceiling of Roxy's room. From the noise coming from the other side of the door, obviously, it was time to get out of bed and get up.

  Looking at his watch, he almost groaned, seven AM. These people were evil. After being kept up so late, they should have the decency to let him sleep in. Grumbling he sat up on the bed and yawning he blinked. Sean was definitely not a morning person, and he was learning quickly that becoming a lion lycan hadn't changed that at all. In fact, he often suspected it had made things worse.

  Looking around Roxy's room, it definitely had that unlived-in look, she hadn't been here in months after all. He looked around for his pants, debating which he wanted more, food or a shower?

  The door opened, and Roxy came bouncing in, "Good! You're up!" She laughed.

  Sean grumbled, Cheetahs were apparently genetically predisposed to being morning people.

  Roxy gave him a hug and pulled him out of bed, "Come on, shower, then food. Mom and I have breakfast almost ready!"

  Nodding, Sean yawned again and let her steer him down the hall to the upstairs bathroom of her parent's house, sans clothing. He honestly didn't care if anyone saw him naked anymore, and he recalled Roxy once telling him that lycans weren't offended by nudity, seeing as shifting tended to either destroy your clothing or make it fall off.

  She pushed him into the shower, that was already running, and he quickly started to clean himself up as the water brought him back to life. Roxy quickly moving out of reach with a giggle as she noticed he'd started to eye her.

  "We've got things to do, and the food's almost ready."

  "Un-huh," Sean grumped, they'd gotten in just after eleven last night, then they'd spent the next several hours meeting the rest of Roxy's family, primarily her mother, but also two of Roxy's four brothers had been there as well.

  "Where's the rest of you?"

  "Downstairs, eating. We all knew if we didn't get out of bed before you woke up, we'd probably be there until noon!" Roxy snickered.

  "And what's wrong with that? I'd have thought you'd want to spend some more time christening the room you grew up in?" Sean grinned back at her as he grabbed the shampoo; they'd definitely done some christening last night.

  "We'll take care of that tonight!" Roxy smirked with a wink. "But today we have places to go and people to meet."

  "You mean people to show me off to!" Sean chuckled as he washed his hair.

  "That too! Now hurry up, I'll be down in the kitchen getting your food."

  Sean's stomach growled at the mention of food.

  "And put some pants on!" Roxy said leaving the bathroom.

  Finishing up quickly in the shower, Sean went and got a clean pair of light colored loose pants that Roxy had gotten out of his suitcase and left on the bed, along with a loose fitting shirt. Summer was coming, and it was already starting to get hot in Las Vegas.

  Checking his phone for any messages from Chad, Oak, or Claudia, Sean headed downstairs to the kitchen. Oak had sent him one to let him know that things were fine; Chad had sent him one about an hour ago, to let him know that they'd picked up a lycan who was on a connecting flight with a magic user on their way to Los Angeles. The lycan had elected to stay in Reno, once given the option, and the magic user had gotten a face full of pepper spray when they'd tried to contest that decision.

  Sean hoped they had pictures; he would have loved to have seen the look on their face. The last week in Reno had been pure hell, as he'd had to work with the others to set up the teams that were now patrolling Reno, looking for those magic users who still had lycans or who were trying to smuggle them out of the city before they could be freed. As the de facto leader of the lycans in Reno now, he had to be seen at these meetings and at all of the training sessions.

  Then every night he'd been working on enchanting items or working in his 'classroom' trying to come up with the design for his 'machine,' the device that would enchant collars and tags for him so they could start turning them out without his having to do it.

  Chad had come up with the plan to help secure Reno, with a lot of input from Claudia and Bill Channing -- Roxy's father. Then all of the members of the lycan fellowship had contributed the resources and people to make it happen.

  With that done, Sean had finally been free to head to Las Vegas to see about taking care of things down here, a task that he'd put off for as long as he could.

  And of course, he also needed to spend a little time with his new in-laws. He'd already met Daelyn's family of course, as well as Roberta's mother, even if he hadn't known about their relationship at the time. Roxy, however, was probably the only one of his wives that had a 'traditional' style family, even if they were all werecheetahs. Jolene was all but disowned from hers, though he got the impression that her uncle was trying to patch things up between her and her mom. Cali's family had given her up years ago when it had been decided that she was to become an assassin, and Sean planned to kill Peg's father the instant he laid eyes on him, if that should ever come to pass again.

  And to track his sorry ass down and kill him if it didn't.

  Going down the stairs Sean had to shake his head, so many people in the magical community were really just complete pricks. At least that didn't seem to be the rule for most of the lycans he'd met so far.

  Stepping into the kitchen, it was huge with a large table in the middle. All of his girls were in the kitchen, Roxy and Daelyn helping Roxy's mom, who looked like an older version of her daughter and was already dressed in a rather sharp business suit for work, being the head of the Las Vegas medical examiner's office.

  Cali, Peg, Roberta, and Jolene were sitting at the table with Bill, Roxy's dad, who was also dressed for work in his sheriff's uniform and drinking coffee.

  "Morning," Bill said, nodding towards Sean.

  "It's too early to be morning," Sean sighed and took the seat that Roxy was putting a large plate of food in front of.

  "It's ten after seven," Bill said with a grin.

  "Lions," Sean sighed, "are not morning people. I think mine is still sound asleep."

  "Lazy lion," Daelyn laughed.

  "In my defense," Sean said picking up
his fork and pointing at her, "you get to take turns, where I have to be awake for each of you!"

  Daelyn, Roberta, and Peggy all turned a bright red, while Jolene and Roxy laughed, along with Roxy's mother, Gloria as Bill choked on his coffee. Cali just smiled and nodded, bouncing happily in her seat.

  "Stop over-sharing while I'm drinking!" Bill said as he set his mug down.

  Sean just started in on his breakfast with a will. He'd definitely worked up an appetite.

  "So," Roxy spoke up, "we have a nine o'clock with Ted, the head of the leopard clan in the area. He's got a number of things he wants to go over with you, as well as a list of the trouble spots."

  "Why Ted?" Sean asked pausing a moment after swallowing.

  "Ted's been spending years finding the trouble spots and having his people keep an eye on things for me, and now for you, in Vegas," Bill said.

  "But why him?"

  "Because leopards are sneaky. As well as tough," Bill said setting down his coffee cup and checking his watch. "We need to go, Gloria, or we're going to be late."

  Gloria nodded, "Let me get my briefcase, I'll meet you out by the car." Gloria then gave her daughter a hug and went around the table giving each of the girls one, ending up with Sean.

  "I'd ask you all to stay out of trouble, but with Roxy around, that's a lost cause!" Gloria grinned and headed out of the kitchen.

  "What else do you have for me?" Sean asked as he went back to eating.

  "Travis called, he and his team are split between two RV parks to either side of town, so if we need any help, he's got people ready to respond."

  Sean nodded and swallowed. He wasn't really thrilled with the idea of having to bring along the former Vestibulum hit team that he'd converted over to his side, but Chad and Maitland had both counseled him that sooner or later he was going to need a personal security team, and he might as well start getting used to it sooner, rather than wishing for it later. So, as Travis and his team had been extensively trained by the Vestibulum to work in a public setting, and actually had been to Vegas before, they got picked.

  "Did you see Chad's message?" Roxy asked, and he nodded.

  "Then that's pretty much everything for now. So finish your breakfast, get dressed, and we can head off to Ted's."

  "What are the gangs here like?" Peg asked.

  That was another thing Sean was worried about. Since the government had pushed the mob out decades ago, there were now several small-time gangs that had grown up around the area, or which were always trying to creep back in. Several of them were magical gangs, but their intentions were primarily criminal, so he wasn't sure that they'd be as big of a problem as the councils were.

  "Ted and my dad are going to go over that with us. They're more of a problem for my dad though, as he's the sheriff."

  "Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of could we get them to help us?" Peg asked with a grin.

  "You would," Daelyn sighed.

  Leaning back in his chair and stretching, Sean shrugged, "We'll see. As long as they're not enslaving any of our people, I'm not all that interested in dealing with them. I think we already have enough problems without attracting any more attention by getting involved with any criminal gangs."

  "Just a thought," Peg shrugged.

  "Well, I need to get my shoes, then we can go visit Ted."

  Showbiz Kids

  Going outside, they all piled into the van. Daelyn was driving, as usual, and Roxy was sitting up front with her, being as this was her hometown and she knew how to get around.

  Also, she still appreciated, if not downright enjoyed, Daelyn's often insane driving more than any of the rest of them did.

  "I need to stop for gas," Daelyn said as she pulled out of the driveway.

  "Sure, there's a good spot on the way," Roxy said and started giving directions.

  Sean just leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes as he once again wondered just what he'd gotten himself into. He'd been to Las Vegas exactly once before in his life, and now he was going to be making plans that affected the lives of everyone in the area. Well, not the lives of the mundanes, but definitely all of the lycans and the magic users.

  In Reno he'd really had no choice, it was do or die after all, and on top of that, Reno was his hometown. It was where he lived, where he grew up. It was really all he knew, and he knew it well. He'd worked at damn near every casino or restaurant in town at one point or another, he knew the town the same way you knew your house. It was home and he was comfortable there. It would have been nice just to stay there, and let someone else sort out Las Vegas, but they had helped him, and he needed to return the favor.

  Plus they really were counting on him. He was the 'leader' of the 'movement' though at times he still wasn't sure exactly just what this 'movement' was. Yeah, the lycans, who had become his people, they needed to be free.

  It's one thing to talk about these lofty ideals and to fight for them on your home turf. However, it's an altogether different thing when you're three hundred miles from home doing it for people you barely know, in a place you've only seen once before and even then only briefly.

  Sean had to admit he wasn't very comfortable with the role everyone seemed to have placed him in. This wasn't his home, this wasn't his city, and these people weren't his friends or his neighbors. But the lycans were his people. The First had made that clear to him more than once in the last week. Sean was a lion, and that meant he had responsibilities, and that responsibility was to do the tasks that had been put before him.

  'But I never asked for this!' he'd told the First eventually.

  'Neither did I,' the first had told him, 'none of us did. Yet here we are. As the saying goes, if not now, when? If not you, who?'

  Sean had sighed and finally had to agree. But he still didn't like it.

  When they stopped for gas, Roxy got out to pump it while Cali jumped out and ran inside to pay and grab a couple of sodas. Getting out to stretch a bit, Sean heard a couple of guys start making catcalls and comments at Cali as she walked into the small shop to pay, her skintight outfit, along with the exoticness of her dark skin and red hair having attracted their attention no doubt.

  Moving around to the back of the van, Sean could see that there was a car of three young men, with a fourth pumping gas. So leaning against the back of the van he decided to watch as Cali came out a minute later, with a six-pack of sodas.

  Two of the guys in the car immediately started calling out to Cali to 'come over and say hello' followed by slightly ruder comments about showing her the town as she continued to just smile and ignore their mostly harmless juvenile comments. Sean figured they were maybe eighteen or nineteen, and from the California plates on the car, obviously here for summer vacation. The car they were in was rather nice, obviously they came from wealthy families, though apparently no one had ever taught them manners from the way they were behaving.

  "What? You think you're too good for us?" one of the guys called out. "Maybe you should come with us and see what it's like to be with a real man!"

  "I have a man, I'm not interested in boys," Cali laughed and blew a kiss to the kid. "Besides, what would you do with a woman? I'm not into children's games!"

  Sean's eyes got wide then as the kid cast a spell, while one of the other two in the car snickered. It looked like a sleep spell of some kind, and of course with her amulet the spell had no effect. Cali didn't seem to notice it and just kept walking towards the van. But the kid in the back swore, and his friend who had only been snickering before now suddenly looked surprised.

  "Hey! Get back here! I'm talking to you, you whore!" The kid yelled and opening the door he got out of the car.

  "Blake! Get back in the car!" The kid pumping gas said, "What the hell are you doing?"

  "She diss'ed me!" Blake growled.

  "Oh! Does the little boy want to be taught a lesson?" Cali teased, stopping to turn and look at the kid while batting her eyes at him.

  "Ha! A little thing like y
ou?"

  Sean didn't miss that Cali's right hand had slipped up under her vest behind her back. It was time to stop this before the kid ended up dead, so he stepped out from behind the van and into view. The kid was bigger than Cali and probably figured he could just use his size and strength to get what he wanted since magic hadn't worked. However, Cali was a trained killer, not that the idiot knew that. The kid was obviously a magic user, so too, Sean guessed, were his friends.

  "Blake there are camera's here!" the kid pumping gas hissed as the looked around and then started to put the pump away and recap his gas tank.

  "No little bitch is going to mouth off to me like that!" Blake hissed back.

  Cali started to open her mouth, but Sean put his hand on her shoulder.

  "What did you just call my wife, son?" Sean growled while calling up his defense and offense frameworks.

  "Oh, shit!" Sean heard the other three all mutter at the same time, the two still in the car quickly getting out of it.

  "Who are you calling 'son'? You better watch your ass when talking to your betters!" Blake said turning to face Sean, "If I want that whore, I'll take her, and you'll like it, or you'll be dead!"

  Sean watched as the kid threw a spell at him, it wasn't one he'd seen before; it looked like some sort of mental domination spell. He'd learned a little about those, from Jolene mostly. They worked fine on mundanes, but anyone with the slightest bit of magic in their makeup easily shrugged them off, which was why he'd never seen one before. They didn't work at all on lycans or magic users.

  "I was going to just let you apologize," Sean growled and hit the kid with a greater paralyzation spell. The kid didn't have any defenses up, so it just rooted him to the spot. "But I guess maybe now I'll just have to rip your head off for being a complete and utter prick."

  Sean smiled slowly at the kid, who suddenly found he couldn't move a muscle and was having to labor just to breathe.